Method, system and apparatus for location-based machine-assisted interactions

ABSTRACT

In accordance with one example embodiment of the present invention a method comprises at least partially enabling a set of functionalities and attributes associated to an area for facilitating business transactions, networking activities, or social interactions of users who are within, proximate, or associated, at least provisionally, with said area. In some implementations, the present invention provides functionalities apt to discover taxonomies of users in relation to locations. In some other implementations, the present invention provides functionalities apt to trace or follow up with users who have associated their identities, at least during a time window, with said area.

The present application is a Continuation in Part of application Ser.No. 14/044,615 filed on Oct. 2, 2013, published as US 2014-0074874 A1,titled Method, System and Apparatus for Location—Based Machine—AssistedInteractions.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present application generally relates to a method, a system and anapparatus for facilitating social interactions and/or professionalinteractions and/or business transactions.

BACKGROUND

The teachings of U.S. Pat. No. 6,819,919, U.S. Pat. No. 6,542,750, U.S.Pat. No. 7,813,741, U.S. Pat. No. 6,542,748, U.S. Pat. No. 6,539,232,U.S. Pat. No. 6,542,749, U.S. Pat. No. 8,150,439 and U.S. Pat. No.6,549,768 are expressly incorporated herein by reference in theirentirety. The teachings of the following U.S. patent applications,having the same inventor of the present application, are expresslyincorporated herein by reference in their entirety: “Method andApparatus for Mediating Among a Plurality of Profiles Associated withUsers Positioned in a Shared Location,” Ser. No. 13/572,617, filed Aug.11, 2012, “Method and Apparatus for a Principal/Agent Based MobileCommerce”, Ser. No. 13/541,737, filed Jul. 4, 2012, “Method andApparatus for Location Based Conditional Offers”, Ser. No. 13/548,944,filed Jul. 13, 2012, “Method and Apparatus for Location Based NetworkingSessions,” Ser. No. 13/633,133, filed Oct. 2, 2012, and “Method andApparatus for Managing Attributes and Functionalities of PredeterminedGeographical Areas,” Ser. No. 13/716,168, filed Dec. 16, 2012.

A geofence is a virtual perimeter for a real-world geographic area. Itcan be generated dynamically as in a radius around a point location suchas a bar or a restaurant. A geofence can be also be generated within theperimeter of a physical location. In one implementation, a geofence canbe a predefined set of boundaries connecting points expressed bylatitude and longitude. Alternatively a geofence can be an areacontaining points with similar characteristics, e.g., within the radiusof one or more RF-ID reader apparatus or iBeacon apparatus.

Geofencing has been made possible especially by the introduction of GPS(Global Positioning System) technology and the miniaturization ofelectronic components that have made the locationing functionality astandard feature in Mobile Phones and portable electronics in general.

Geofencing can be implemented via many positioning techniques, bothindoor and outdoor, such as by means of detection by an RF-ID reader,Wi-Fi, Bluetooth mapping, accelerometers, gyroscopes, altimeters,magnetometers, or led detection modules, just to cite a few examples.

Locationing techniques coupled with mobile telecommunications technologyhave opened the door to novel, machine-assisted methods for facilitatingand conducting business transactions. For example, the above-mentionedapplication “Method and Apparatus for a Principal/Agent Based MobileCommerce” discloses a location-based mobile commerce method based onthree actors: 1) a user, 2) an agent and a 3) principal. In saiddisclosure, an agent, e.g. a trusted customer of a certain brand, can beempowered by a principal, e.g. a car dealer for said brand, to representsaid principal with deals or offers that have been preapproved by saidprincipal.

Geofencing and location technologies in general, can trigger or inhibitfunctionalities of location-aware apparatuses. For example, as describedin U.S. Pat. No. 7,813,741 titled “System and Method for InitiatingResponses to Location-Based Events”, a system may provide a response toone or more location-based services applications to supplylocation-based services, such as email, instant messaging, paging andthe like.

In other enactments, systems can make available location-basedinformation and functionalities in various ways, as described forexample in U.S. Pat. No. 8,150,439 titled “Facilitating userinteractions based on proximity.”

All the patents, patent applications and published documents mentionedanywhere in this application are incorporated herein by reference intheir entirety. Furthermore, where a definition or use of a term in adocument that is incorporated by reference is inconsistent or contraryto the definition of that term provided herein, the definition of thatterm provided herein applies and the definition of that term in thereference does not apply.

SUMMARY

According to one aspect of the present invention, a method comprises: 1)creating a session area model-profile associated with an area byselecting at least a subset of all the possible attributes that maypertain to a generic user profile 2) assigning model values to saidsubset of attributes 3) comparing said model values with the valuesbelonging to the profile of a user for the same said subset ofattributes; and 4) generating a correlation score.

Another aspect of the invention comprises a method, a system and anapparatus for interacting with users who are located within an area.Said method, system and apparatus are based on a software module utilitythat correlates 1) a visual field displaying User A and 2) User A'sprofile which is contained in a datagram that is stored in a server. Afunctional visual icon can be superimposed to the live feed of said UserA.

Another aspect of the invention comprises a method, a system and anapparatus for displaying active users who are located nearby User A inan active session area.

Another aspect of the invention comprises a method, system and apparatusfor regulating proximate active session area in a hierarchical manner.

Another aspect of the invention comprises a method, a system, and anapparatus for automatically exchanging, collecting and managingelectronic records of users who have joined a session area. In oneimplementation, said electronic records are represented on oneelectronic display as software objects mimicking traditional businesscards. Electronic records can be integrated with a Customer RelationshipManagement System.

Numerous aspects, embodiments and examples of the invention that can beimplemented by a system, a method or an apparatus are set out in theclaims and are described in detail in the specifications.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a more complete understanding of example embodiments of the presentinvention, reference is now made to the following descriptions taken inconnection with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 represents a simplified version of various embodiments of theinvention describing a system.

FIG. 2 represents an embodiment of classes of session zones and anexample of a hierarchical regulatory approach between different classesof users who may create active areas.

FIG. 3 represents two non-limiting examples of user equipment's screenshots or I/O User Interface status.

FIG. 4 represents a schematic representation of an embodiment of userequipment such as User Equipment 160, 165 or 170. In someimplementations, it may also represent a schematic representation of anAdministrator Equipment 110 or Fractional Administrator Equipment 111.

FIG. 5 is another non-limiting example of a user equipment's I/O UserInterface status.

FIG. 6 is another non-limiting example of a user equipment's I/O UserInterface status.

FIG. 7 is another non-limiting example of user equipment's I/O UserInterface statuses.

FIG. 8 is a non-limiting example of a Session Zone 190 partitioningmethod to provide additional and novel functionalities.

FIG. 9 is a non-limiting example of a three dimensional “Geobox”.

FIG. 10 represents a possible embodiment of one aspect the inventionpertaining to the correlation of visual indicia of users who are withina session area with those users' IDs and those users' profiles. Saidcorrelation may allow novel and useful applications and functionalities.

FIG. 11 represents a possible embodiment of a flow diagram illustratinga possible embodiment wherein a correlation output between a userprofile and a session area model-profile associated to an area affectsdiscoverability of said area by said user.

FIG. 12 represents a possible embodiment of a screen of a User A'sapparatus wherein information related to users who have participated toevents or have joined certain active areas that are related to User A'sactivities can be collected, represented and organized.

FIG. 13 represents two exemplary screens of a mobile application runningon terminal equipment. It also represents an exemplary screen of a mapthat can be accessed, e.g., via a web browser. Said map may representattributes of locations that are hosting finite events or locations thatare hosting permanent sessions (arenas).

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

An example embodiment of the present invention and its potentialadvantages are understood by referring to FIG. 1 through 13 of thedrawings.

FIG. 1 describes one possible embodiment of the invention. UserEquipment 170 at time T1 is located in Notification Area 185.Notification Area 185 is a zone, centered on Location 180. NotificationArea 185, in one possible implementation, is an area surrounding,non-overlapping and extending beyond Session Area 190. In another, it isoverlapping with Session Area 190.

Location 180, in some implementations, can be a public place such as amall or a bar or a happy hour place. Said public venues may provide analternative to a business location such as shop, a business office, or adealership that is informal and better suited to a casual andobligation-free interaction.

In FIG. 1 Session Area 190 is an area, also centered on Location 180where certain predetermined functionalities are enabled. For example,User Equipment 160 and 165, by virtue of being positioned within SessionArea 190 may interact, exchange electronic business cards, or closepredetermined business deals.

Because User Equipment 170 is positioned within Notification Area 185 attime T1 and because T1 is comprised within a predefined time window andbecause User Equipment 170 may contain a software application logged onMemory 431, User Equipment 170 may, for example, receive a notificationthat a user is located within Session Area 190 and is available forinteraction.

In another embodiment, there is no window of notification butnotifications can be delivered independently from the time of the day.Said notification can be delivered via Radio Link 142, establishedbetween User Equipment 170 and Access Point/Base Station (AP/BS) 135.For the sake of simplicity, in the example of FIG. 1, Access Point/BaseStation (AP/BS) 135 is serving all the equipment located in both SessionArea 190 and Notification Area 185 via Radio Links 142, 141, 148 and140.

In one embodiment, User Equipment 170, located in Notification Zone 185,may receive indicia that agent equipment such as User Equipment 160 islocated and active in Session Area 190. Said indicia could be associatedto preferences and settings contained in a data structure determined, atleast in part, by a principal.

Fractional Administrator Equipment 111 may represent said principal.

Fractional Administrator Equipment 111 could be one of many principalsthat are served by an administrator via Administrator Equipment 110. Anadministrator could be in charge of providing a service to multipleprincipals in case of a location based service implementing an agencysystem.

Administrator Equipment 110, connected to the Internet via Link 146 canbe representative of, e.g., a provider of the agency service formultiple brands or services. Said service provider may access to thefunctionalities, software and modules of Server 100 comprisingController 101 and may serve, e.g., a plurality of principals.Fractional Administrator Equipment 111, connected to the internet viaLink 147, may be representative of a particular principal, namely anowner of a service, brand or product for sale who may enable selectedagents to participate to a location based service and represent him orher.

Traditionally a principal will control the terms of the offers thatagents may extend to users, at least partially. In one implementation,the savings derived by absence of dedicated commercial space andinformal, non-traditional marketing realized by a principal can bepassed to agents and customers.

A principal may have access, at least partially, to functionalities andsettings of Server 100 and may enable agents, compile business offersand regulate the service. Because of analytics-derived or explicitpreferences expressed by a user, an algorithm, residing on Memory 102and running on Server 100, may cause the system to alert user and/oragent of their mutual proximity based on geofences. In anotherimplementation, a user may be able to discover where active agents are,independently from his proximity to them but rather using a browser anda search engine, or filters related to interests, brands or locations.In another implementation, an agent may activate a visibility enhancingfunction associated with a tagline as will be explained in furtherdetail with reference to FIG. 13.

In one implementation, a user's indicia of interest for a brand or aproduct via social media activity may consist, for example, of a “like”or ‘share” in a Facebook-type web application concerning a particularbrand. In another embodiment, it may consist of the clicking of a webbanner advertisement. In another embodiment, the expression of interestfor a particular deal or brand can be the result of an ad-hoc userprofile or the result of a user's opting into a notification offeringpresented to user from time to time via communication media in general.In another embodiment the expression of interest could be derived fromanalytics of the internet browsing activities of users who navigatesites harvesting information. For example, a user reading an articlepertaining to a certain brand of cars may result in that user beingnotified of a nearby agent for that brand of cars.

The person skilled in the art will understand that Facebook is just oneof many possible social media platforms where users can indicateinterest for particular kind of services, products or brands and thatother media services can serve the purpose. Interest or inclinations canalso be evinced from contextual information.

User Equipment 160 may contain a software application logged on Memory432 of the same kind as the one present in User Equipment 170 and 165 onMemory 433 and Memory 431. If User Equipment 160 represents an agentwhile User Equipment 165 and 170 represent possible target users (whohave somewhat expressed an implicit or explicit interest for the brandor service represented by said agent), instead of having acontemporaneous movement of both agents and users around town, an agentcan position himself within Session Area 190 and use the system tonotify said target users.

The person skilled in the art will understand that the agency model isjust a non-limiting example that is provided to illustrate the potentialof one aspect of this invention and many of the concepts can be reusedacross different industries (e.g., consulting, legal et cetera).

In one implementation, User Equipment 160 can be representative of aprofessional looking forward to extend the reach of his office or ageneric user who is looking forward to interactions with other fellowusers for networking or dating purposes. For example, Notification Area185 and Session Area 190 may support a networking service such asLinkedIn. In this embodiment, User A may express interest in a ‘target”User B and User A can be alerted of the presence of said “target” User Bwhen said User B is within Session Area 190 if security and privacysettings of the system so allow.

In another scenario pertaining to a different industry, NotificationArea 185 and Session Area 190 may augment dating services such asMatch.com, PlentyofFish, Zoosk, eHarmony or others. The philosophysupporting the case of a dating service can be similar to the previousexample of an agent/principal system.

In the case of a dating service, when allowed by the privacy policies,settings, and regulations pertaining to said service, users can bealerted of each other or can interact with each other if certainconditions are met.

Interactions and notifications can also be made possible by softwareapplications and data logged on Memories 431, 432, 433 and 102. Theperson skilled in the art will understand that software applications anda system based on login and passwords will make equipmentinterchangeable. As long as the equipment described in this applicationcan host and run a software application or modules of a softwareapplication that can enable the system to run and perform the functionsdescribed in this application there is no need for dedicated hardwareequipment.

In another embodiment, there is no dedicated software application loggedon said memories and equipment and said interactions and functionalitiescan be made possible by a client terminal code executed within a webbrowser or other application execution environment such asHTML/JavaScript or Flash.

User Equipment 170, 165 and 160 can be a mobile phone, a PDA, a laptop,or a tablet or any other wireless mobile device or wearable equipment aslong as capable of connecting with the Internet.

In the particular embodiment of FIG. 1, Session Area 190, represented ashaving a circular shape with Radius 182, is centered on Location 180.Session Area 190 can be an area where mobile equipment such as UserEquipment 160 and 165 can report their presence manually orautomatically and be part of a location based group session event.Notification Area 185, in the embodiment described in FIG. 1, iscentered on Location 180 and has a circular shape and Radius 181. It canbe an area where User Equipment 170 reports its presence manually orautomatically. In some implementations, said Location 180 can be, e.g.,a bar, a mall, a happy hour place or other place where access isrestricted such as a conference room in a business building, a hotel ora convention center, or a private household.

In some implementations, the session area will be permanently active andthe event shall be permanent (arena). In other instances, the event canbe recurring, e.g., every Tuesday form 4.00 PM to 8.00 PM (recurringfinite event). In other implementations, the event can be a one-timeevent (event).

In some implementations, Radius 182 and Radius 181 may adjust accordingto the reported accuracy of the positioning capabilities of UserEquipment 170, 165 and 160. For example, if User Equipment 160 reportsto Server 100 that a GPS positioning is not available and it must relyon the less precise triangulation from towers, the value of Radius 182may increase to accommodate for a possibly jittering position reportedby User Equipment 160. In other implementations, with the availabilityof a precise indoor positioning system, the value of Radius 182 maydecrease. In other implementations, instead of varying the value ofRadius 182 an hysteresis timer could be added so that even if UserEquipment 160 reports itself outside Session Area 190, Server 100 maynot disable those privileges or functionalities that are associated withSession Area 190 unless a certain amount of time has elapsed (and UserEquipment 160 keeps reporting its position outside Session Area 190).

In certain implementations, the degradation of precision of apositioning system could be triggered by energy savings considerations.For example, Equipment 160 may turn off the GPS to save battery power.If User Equipment 160 cannot afford the power consumption derived fromGPS usage, the system may relax the stringency of the conditions imposedto user equipment to be located within a small active area to be able totake advantage of certain functionalities. In some implementations,e.g., the value of Radius 182 or Radius 181 is not the same for all userequipment but it may vary and adapt to classes of equipment orsituations that are specific to User Equipment 160.

The functionalities that can be provided to users within Session Area190 can be multiple. As non-limiting examples, if Server 100 hasreceived the information that User Equipment 165 is within Session Area190, then Controller 101 may facilitate the browsing and the retrievingof user profiles associated with users who also are within said SessionArea 190 such as User Equipment 160. It may also regulate thepossibility of interacting via a messaging system or other predeterminedinteraction system such as an expression of interest notification.

Controller 101 may also regulate business transactions or preliminaryagreements based on location. In one implementation, with reference tothe previously described principal/agent system, a principal/agenttransaction can be inhibited outside predetermined areas such as SessionArea 190.

In one implementation, indicia of the presence of certain users withincertain session areas can be made available to other users, such asExternal User 112 that is connected to Server 100 via Link 149,according to certain preferences. For example, in certain settings, itcan be advantageous for a user who desires to be contacted by peopleoutside Session Area 190 to let other users know of his presence withinSession Area 190 even when those people are neither within Session Area190 nor within Notification Area 185.

A user like External User 112 can be browsing in real time the swarm ofusers who are within Session Area 190. Said External User 112 couldacquire information about Location 180 via user interfaces such asScreen 1301 described in FIG. 13. In certain implementations ExternalUser 112 may be able to retrieve information about certain users whohave joined the active area centered on Location 180 and also mayinitiate, e.g., a messaging interaction with them according to certainprivacy settings. In one implementation, External User 112 can, forexample, receive a video and/or an audio feed from Video Camera 105 thatcan be accessible via a web page such as, e.g., Screen 1301.

In one implementation, External User 112 is able to see the whereaboutsof Session Area 190 by using Video Camera 105 that is connected toServer 100 via Link 148 and is able to see and connect to other userswho are located there. In one implementation the position of UserEquipment 160, 165 and the position of Video Camera 105 is known by thesystem with accuracy by using, e.g., the technology described in patentapplication US 20100295943 A1 titled “Real-time RF-ID positioning systemand method, repeater installation method therefor, position confirmationservice system using the same”.

The person skilled in the art will understand that this is just one ofthe many examples of possible positioning methods. Other methods orconcepts can be utilized such as GPS, Choke point concepts, Gridconcepts, Long Range Sensor concepts, Angle of Arrival concepts, Time ofArrival Concept, Received Signal Strength Indication concepts, InertialMeasurements concepts.

In one implementation, Video Camera 105's visual field is correlated andmapped against the position of the users who are within said visualfield. The system can generate ID Icon 1005 and ID Icon 1004 that can besuperimposed on top of Video Camera 105's video feed so that ID Icon1005 and ID Icon 1004 can overlap with, e.g., the image of the users ofUser Equipment 160 and 165. In one implementation, the dimensions ofsaid icons are proportional to the distance of the associated users fromVideo Camera 105.

In another implementation, users can simply be wearing an RF-ID braceletwithin Session Area 190 so that ID Icon 1004 and ID Icon 1005 can begenerated by the system and associated with profiles and datagramsstored on Server 100. This will be explained in more detail withreference to FIG. 10.

Digital information from and to User Equipment 160, 165 and 170 can becommunicated via an Access Point/Base Station (AP/BS) 135 to Server 100via Links 140, 141, 142, 143, 144 and Core Network/Internet Cloud 130.Links 143, 144 and 145 can be radio links or any physical means capableof transporting digital information, including cables.

Communications between User Equipment 160, 170 and 165 can occur via acore network infrastructure supporting any cellular standard. In someembodiments, the exchange of data may occur by means of non-cellularstandards such as Wi-Fi or Bluetooth technology. For example, Userequipment 160 and 165 could use an ad-hoc Wi-Fi connection andcommunicate directly without the support of any cellular network.

FIG. 1 represents just one of the many possible embodiments of thepresent invention. In fact, Session Area 190 and Notification Area 185could overlap or be far away from each other so that a plurality ofdifferent access points or base stations (AP/BS) could be needed toserve User Equipment 170, 165 and 160 in different areas. Moreover,Session Area 190 and Notification Area 185 could be defined not only bymeans of geofencing but also by many other techniques, for example, therange of the radio communication link type employed by Access Point/BaseStation (AP/BS) 135 or the range of an RF-ID reader or even physicalwalls or fences coupled with any system apt to detect the presence of auser within said walls or fences such as an RF-ID reader or an Indoorpositioning systems (IPS).

Furthermore, the radio link employed by Access Point/Base Station(AP/BS) 135 could be of many different types, e.g. Wi-Fi, GSM, WCDMA,LTE, CDMA, RF-ID and Bluetooth, just to cite a few non-limitingexamples. Location can be provided by many different techniques, forexample triangulation with different Access Points/Base Stations, cellID, signal strength data mapping of various Access Point/Base Stations(e.g., Wi-Fi positioning).

Indoor positioning systems (IPS) are rapidly evolving. Instead of usingsatellites, an IPS may rely on nearby anchors that are nodes with aknown position, which either actively locate tags or provideenvironmental context for devices to sense. The current localized natureof an IPS may involve different systems making use of various optical,radio, or even acoustic technologies.

An example of Bluetooth mapping that can be used as an IPS is iBeacon.iBeacon is an indoor positioning system that Apple Inc. calls a newclass of low-powered, low-cost transmitters that can notify nearbydevices of their presence. The technology enables devices or otherhardware to send push notifications to other devices in close proximity.The iBeacon works on Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), also known as BluetoothSmart and the specifications can be accessed and retrieved atwww.bluetooth.org.

In a possible implementation of iBeacon related to the present patentapplication, Session Area 190 could be an indoor space that is coveredby the radio horizon of a single iBeacon transmitter or by a pluralityof iBeacon transmitters. In one implementation, a single or a pluralityof iBeacons (and the codes transmitted by said iBeacons) could beassociated to Session Area 190 or to an event associated with SessionArea 190. User A may be able to join a discrete event or a permanentarena if, e.g., his equipment can receive at least one of those codes.

In one implementation, iBeacon transmissions let a receiver perform twotasks: uniquely identify what iBeacon transmitters they are near andestimate the distance to them. If user equipment is capable of receivingmultiple iBeacon transmissions from multiple transmitters those readingscan be used to provide the mapping of the active area and an indicationof which equipment is nearby User A's equipment. Proximate equipmentshould in fact estimate similar distances from the same iBeaconstransmitters.

For the purposes of the present application, Session Area 190 should beinterpreted broadly and consistently with the advances of technology inthe area of locationing techniques. In one implementation, Session Area190 may extend beyond the physical location of a building such as a baror a mall, for which Location 180 could be a proxy. In anotherimplementation, Location 180 can be centered on the instantaneousposition of user equipment and be activated by said particular userequipment without any reference to a physical building or establishment.

In another implementation, Session Area 190 may be contained within theperimeter of a building and an indoor positioning system may define itsboundaries. In another implementation, the boundaries of Session Area190 can be defined by the physical walls of a room in a building coupledwith a system to detect presence of a particular user within thosewalls. An RF-ID system may provide both a presence detection functionand an identity discovery function of a user within said walls.

In another embodiment, a facial recognition system coupled with amovement detection system may provide the identity of a user entering aparticular room and the element of presence in said room. Said facialrecognition system may generate an ID coupled with a user because of acomparison with data contained in a database storing facial features ofpossible users. Said facial recognition system may provide said ID toServer 100 to account for the presence of said user within the physicallocation area served by said facial recognition system.

In one implementation, Session Area 190 can be in at least two differentstatuses: active and passive. During an active status, mobile equipmentpositioned within notification or session zones and logged on Memory 102of Server 100 as within Session Zone 190 may be able to show profiles orpermit interaction with other users who also are within Session Area190. Session Area 190 can also be “always on” meaning in a permanentactive status (arena). Session areas may be subject to time windowswherein said time windows, (that might be recurring or a one-timeoccurrence i.e. discrete events), may regulate the enabling or disablingof certain functionalities.

In another implementation, certain thresholds pertaining to said sessionareas might regulate functionalities afforded to user equipment. Forexample, only a set amount of users can be allowed by the system tobecome visible, e.g., the first one hundred users logging into SessionArea 190. Users who are in excess may populate a waiting list.

Users' visibility may also be subject to timers or threshold rates. Forexample, the rate at which a user interacts with other users mayinfluence visibility, prominence, or discoverability within Session Area190 or notification Area 185. For example, users within Session Area 190can be required to interact with at least a minimum number of otherusers within a certain period to remain visible.

In another implementation, an entity may regulate interactions orreceive analytics of said interactions related to users in an activearea or event that said entity has created or is controlling.Alternatively, said entity may receive analytics related to interactionsin various active areas or events related to employees that areassociated to said entity. For example, during a sales event, wherenetworking is a critical goal, said entity may want to monitor the levelof interactions of his sales people and reward the most active.

In certain embodiments, gamification can be employed. Gamificationtechniques strive to leverage people's natural desires for competition,achievement, status, self-expression, altruism, and closure. A coregamification strategy is rewards for players who accomplish desiredtasks. Types of rewards include points, achievement badges or levels,the filling of a progress bar, and providing the user with virtualcurrency. Interaction levels among users in a common active area may bestimulated and enhanced via gamification by said entity. A“gamification” sub algorithm can be embedded into memory 102 so thatusers with the highest rate of interaction could be rewarded for theiractivities. For example, hierarchical user statuses can be achievedaccording to activities and interactions.

In another implementation, the rate of interaction with other userswithin the session area may affect their discoverability. Said impactmay be positive or negative according to possible settings of the serverprovider. User's visibility can be inhibited or diminished by saidsystem's settings. A diminished visibility may correspond, e.g., to thedropping of a user's profile toward the bottom of a list of users suchas the one described in FIG. 3 in Screen 300.

In one implementation, users can also be subject to timers so that, ifthey do not accomplish some task that is regulated by the system withina time threshold, their visibility or other functions can be inhibitedor limited. The system may act in various ways and, for example, insteadof “punishing” users for their inactivity it may promote the visibilityof users with the least amount of interactions or activity.

In another implementation, a user can be afforded only a restrictednumber of possibilities for interactions with other users. For example,a user in Session Area 190 may only be able to send a number N ofrequests for interactions during an active session time window. This canbe done to avoid tragedy of the commons problems and regulate thequality of the interactions.

In another implementation, an algorithm running on server 100 mayregulate the rate at which a certain user within Session Area 190 isasked to interact. For example, if the system notices that a certainUser A is asked to interact above a certain threshold within a certaintime window it may prevent User A to receive mass notifications and senda message back to the requester of the interaction that a certainthreshold has been reached. The algorithm may also space interactionrequests in time or rearrange interaction requests according to certainpriorities and criteria such as premium subscription, time spent withinthe session area, recurrence within the session area, or usage of theapplication, just to cite a few examples.

FIG. 2 represents examples of session areas, such as Session Area 190,or notification areas, such as Notification Area 185, having differentproperties and functionalities. Said properties and functionalities canbe used to classify said areas. For example, Class A session areas suchas Area 201, Area 202 and Area 205 can be areas centered on publicplaces such as restaurants and bars dedicated to affluent professionalsand having a high price range for their food and services. Class Asession areas can be used for networking activities. Class B areas suchas Area 203 and Area 204 can be areas centered on public places such asrestaurants and bars dedicated to a younger and more informal clienteleand having a more affordable price range for food or services. Class Bsession areas can be used, e.g., for dating and activities that are moreinformal.

In one implementation, if a system of classes for session areas isimplemented, and session areas are classified according to certainparameters that are known to users, users can choose which session areasto attend and where to become visible automatically without manuallyinteracting with the system. They can do so by choosing a class ofsession areas or, alternatively, by handpicking certain session areasthat they feel comfortable with or they deem useful or safe.

Certain session areas can also be associated to LinkedIn groups or othersocial media groups members such Facebook groups.

The person skilled in the art will understand that the possibilities areextremely numerous. For example, in a dating service scenario, sessionareas can be classified according to classes of users using biographicaldata of target users. Session areas classes can be dedicated to userswho are within a certain age bracket or to users who have been divorcedor users with children. Individual users, a service provider or both,may control, at least partially, properties and functionalities assignedto session areas.

Session areas that are hosting recurring events can be dedicated tocertain kind of professional categories and can be classifiedaccordingly. Session area classifications can be extremely various.Classifications may pertain to functions to which session areas orevents are dedicated. A one-time event or a recurring event can beparticular time windows served by a particular session area forfulfilling a predetermined function, e.g. networking. As a matter ofexample, certain session areas can be classified as “professionalnetworking”, others as “dating”, and others as “job hunting”, and othersas “sales according to the principal agent location based method”. Theperson skilled in the art will understand that a functionalclassification system may grow in time, as new functions will emergeaccording to the evolution of business practices and societal customs.

An example of functionality that in certain implementations a user cancontrol is privacy. A user may decide in which session areas he wants tobecome visible 1) automatically, 2) manually, 3) upon a request from thesystem, 4) according to certain settings, or 5) never.

A user may elect to turn visible or invisible in certain session areasaccording to certain parameters and thresholds. For example, thecontemporaneous presence of another predetermined user in a session zonemay influence visibility settings. A threshold concentration of aparticular profile attribute may influence visibility settings. A suddenconcentration of doctors in a session area may cause a user's profilebelonging to a user within a session area to become visible.

In another implementation, session areas can be dedicated to aparticular specific profile's trait. For example, certain session areascan be dedicated to a specific professional figure such as doctors, andthose session areas can be used for various activities such asnetworking, dating, sales, recruiting, demonstrations et cetera.Profiles may have time windows of visibility, e.g., a time during theday or a day during the week when a profile is set to be visible.Profiles may also have spatial windows of visibility, e.g., a profilemay only be visible in geofences that are located in places that are atleast a hundred miles from a reference point, for example home.

In some implementations, users may belong to hierarchies such as, e.g.,basic users, premium users and executive users. In certain scenarios, itmight be useful to control the capability of lower tier users to createsession areas in certain locations. For example during a big conventionit might be useful to prevent lower tier users to set up disruptiveactive session areas within a certain Radius 208 from Location 207because the organizers of the big convention may want to regulate who isable to set up events within Area 209 during the time window in whichthe convention is active. In certain implementations, the organizers ofthe big convention may charge a user for the privilege of being able toset up Area 206 for a determined time window. In certainimplementations, Area 206 may be used to collect analytics and data ofusers who have joined or have entered Area 206 during big convention.

In certain implementations, Area 209 is a permanently active area(arena) that is centered, e.g., on a company building and is controlled,e.g., by a company (example of executive user). The capability ofcreating events within said arena could be managed, regulated andcontrolled by said executive user to prevent misuse of resources and tofurther company's goals. In certain implementations, Area 209 can bereused (in silos) by multiple executive users that are co-located in thesame building. In some implementations, classes of users will be able todiscover and access only those active areas within Area 209 that theyare entitled or permitted to discover. For example, employees ofexecutive user A may be able to discover only those active areas thathave been created by user A.

In certain implementations, the system may prevent the creation of toomany temporary active areas in or around the same location. If, e.g., apremium user has created a temporary active area, the system may preventa basic user to create another contemporaneous temporary active areawithin a certain distance. If too many active areas have been created inor around the same location, the system may prevent the creation of moreactive areas to prevent abuse or “tragedy of the commons” situations.

The person skilled in the art will understand that circular shapes inFIG. 2 are just simplifications and variously shaped areas can becreated using different techniques, some of which are discussed in thepresent application.

In some implementations, a session area may be associated to a sessionarea model-profile stored in Server 100. Said session area model-profilemay consist of a profile that is representative of the user or users whoare the target or a benchmark for a particular session area or eventthat is hosted within that session area.

A user profile, in one embodiment, is a collection of data, preferencesand settings defined by a common set of attributes describingcharacteristics or traits that will apply to a user, at least partially.For example, a user can be described in his profile by a set ofattributes that could include Religion, Race, Age, Education,Citizenship, Title, Age, Industry, Profession, Sexual Orientation orPremium User.

A session area model-profile, in one implementation, is a set ofpossible attributes that may pertain to a user profile wherein saidattributes have been assigned a specific value or descriptive term. Asession area model-profile, in another implementation, is a subset ofall the possible attributes that may pertain to a user wherein saidattributes have been assigned a specific numerical value or adescriptive term, (e.g. Industry: Information Technology and Services).In one implementation, descriptive terms may be restricted to a finitenumber of options to be selected from by using, e.g., a drop down menu.

In another implementation, the subset may even be one single attributethat has been assigned a desired value or descriptive term (e.g.,Premium User). In one implementation, a “specific value” is a numericattribute such as Age, Time Spent in the Session Area, Salary, CreditScore, and Desired Age for a Possible Date or else. In oneimplementation, a “descriptive term” is a descriptive attribute such as“Gender” or “Occupation”.

For the purposes of this application, unless otherwise specified, anumerical value or descriptive term pertaining to an attribute in a userprofile datagram or pertaining to an attribute in a session areamodel-profile datagram can be simply referred to as “value” of saidattribute independently from its class (descriptive or quantitative).

In one implementation, certain attributes pertaining to a session areamodel-profile can be critical attributes. For example, if criticalattributes that have been assigned values in the session areamodel-profile are not met by values in a matching set of attributes inthe profile of a user, the resulting correlation output might be zero ora low value.

For example, a critical attribute could be a field that describes apremium user in the profile so that only premium users will have acorrelation score or produce a correlation output different from zero.In another example, a critical attribute could be a code pertaining toan event so that only those users knowing the code and having input saidcode in the pertinent attribute field would be correlated. In someimplementations, the code can be unique to the user. In otherimplementations, the code can be unique to the event or the sessionarea. In certain implementations, only users who know a unique code willbe able to discover the event or the session area or join it.

In one implementation, not all the attributes in a user profile might beunder the complete control of the user. Certain attribute values ordescriptive terms can be fixed or semi-fixed once a user inputs them forthe first time, such as the date of birth. Other values for certainattributes can be derived independently by the system to avoid usersmanipulating their profiles in order to seek a higher correlation outputwith certain session area model-profiles or event model-profiles. Inanother implementation, a certain attribute value can be the result ofinteractions with other users. For example, the sum of positivefeedbacks and negative feedbacks from other users might generate anattribute value that can be used to correlate a user profile with asession area model-profile or event model-profile.

A session area model-profile, in one implementation, can be the targetor reference profile that a particular session area or event hosted bysaid session area is trying to attract or promote or benchmark. Forexample, an event can be targeting doctors, who are 30 years old andsingle. Profiles of users who are within the session area can be rankedaccording to their degree of proximity to said session areamodel-profile.

An event or a session area may have more than one session areamodel-profiles, e.g., one for males and one for females if, for example,the event is a dating event hosted by companies such as Match.Com,eHarmony, Zoosk, OurTime or the like. In one implementation, not all theattribute values or descriptive terms of the session area model-profileare made public by the service providers.

In one embodiment, an attribute is an element of data that, whendefined, describes one aspect of a user. Said attributes may becontained in a datagram stored, for example, on Memory 102 of Server100. Attributes of a user can be used by the system to establish adegree of correlation score (or correlation output) between a particularsession area model-profile and a profile of a user who, for example, islocated within that session area. In another embodiment, said degree ofcorrelation can be calculated for users who are outside said sessionarea. A high value of correlation output could give a remote user suchas External User 112 some privileges and functionalities associated withsaid session area as the privileges and functionalities described withreference to FIG. 10. For the purpose of this application, “degree ofcorrelation” and “correlation output” can be used interchangeably.

In one embodiment, the degree of correlation between two items can bemeasured by a correlation algorithm that assigns a numeric value to eachof the similarities found between said items' correlation attributes.Said algorithm can use weights such as numeric values that are used tomodify a degree of correlation score between said session areamodel-profile and said user profile. By using weights, certainattributes of a user profile may have more sway in determining theoverall correlation score with a particular session area model-profile.For example, if Age is a critical attribute, Age can be associated witha higher weight attribute, e.g., a value between one and two. If Age isnot a critical attribute, it may be associated with a lower value, e.g.,between zero and one. If Age is a neutral attribute it may be associatedwith a weight attribute equal to one. Said algorithm stored, for exampleon Memory 102 of Server 100 may rank users' profiles according to theirdegree of proximity or distance from said session area model-profile.

In one implementation, said ranking based on degrees of distance fromsaid session area model-profile can be used to affect users' visibility.For example, with reference to FIG. 3, Users 301, 302, 303, 304, 305,306 can be listed and ranked according to said degree of correlationscore. Users at the top of the list, such as User 301, may have aprofile that is more correlated with the session area model-profilewhile users who are at the bottom, such as User 306, may have a profilethat is less correlated with said session area model-profile.

In this application, the term “visibility” shall mean the degree ofprominence of a particular user profile or session area in comparison toother users' profiles or other session areas generated by the systemwhile the term “discoverability” shall mean a discrete status affordedto a particular user profile or a session area. In one implementation, auser associated with a user profile or an area associated with a sessionarea model-profile are either discoverable or they are not discoverable.If they are not discoverable, their visibility is zero. If they arediscoverable, their visibility may vary according to various degrees.For example, users or areas may top a list or may be at the center of agraphical representation if their visibility is high.

In one implementation, the degree of correlation between a session areamodel-profile and the profile of users can be used to allowdiscoverability or regulate the visibility of certain session areas thathave been assigned, (either temporarily or periodically in conjunctionwith an event or permanently), a session area model-profile. Forexample, with reference to FIG. 2, only those users whose profileproduces a minimum preset degree of correlation output with the sessionarea model-profile assigned to Area 203 will be able to discover saidarea. In a dating scenario, certain areas might be discoverable only byusers whose profile fits certain criteria, e.g., one attribute value inthe event model-profile is set to “previously divorced” or “neverpreviously married”. Only those users whose profile fits that attributewill be able to discover and join the area associated with said eventmodel-profile for interactions with other users.

In another implementation, an algorithm stored in Memory 102 may permitdiscoverability of a profile only if the attributes associated with saidprofile are within a predetermined proximity range to said session areamodel-profile. For example, those profiles whose attribute Age is morethan five years apart from a reference value contained in said sessionarea model-profile may result in being hidden or not allowed to becomeactive within the session area.

In certain implementations, the system may allow only users havingprofiles that are within predetermined boundaries of said session areamodel-profile, at least for some critical attributes, to become activein said area, discover said area, or perform certain functions withinsaid area.

In one implementation, an algorithm may regulate certain functionalitiesor privileges afforded to users within the session area according tosaid degree of correlation score with the session area model-profile. Itcan do so hierarchically by comparing profiles of users associated withsaid area while providing the limited functional resources that areassociated with the area only to profiles belonging to a top tier.

In one exemplary situation, the system may compare the credit scoreassociated with a certain user with a “session area model credit scoreattribute”. The system may allow the discoverability of the area only tousers with a credit score above (or below) said model attribute. Thesystem may also allow the possibility of performing certain functionsassociated with that area based on credit score. For example, in case ofa principal-agent transaction, only users with a certain credit scoremight be able to discover agents or areas associated with agents orclose business transactions within those areas.

The person skilled in the art will understand that what in thisapplication has been often labeled as “session area model-profile” isnot intended to be limited to a permanent profile associated with alocation but rather multiple session area model-profiles can be created,even temporarily. For example, multiple session area model-profiles canbe created and they can coexist within the same session area. Forexample, male profiles can be correlated against session areamodel-profile “ONE” and females can be correlated against session areamodel-profile “TWO”. In one implementation, multiple session areamodel-profiles coexisting in time and space within a session area can belinked together to allow users whose profile correlates with at leastone of those session area model-profiles to interact.

eHarmony, e.g., is an online dating website designed specifically tomatch single men and women with each other for long-term relationships.In one exemplary implementation (based, e.g., on a dating algorithm suchas the eHarmony algorithm), arenas or events could be created in publicplaces using the session area model-profiles concept. The eHarmonyalgorithm is based on the segmentation of their clientele according tosix parameters: 1) level of agreeableness; 2) preference for closenesswith a partner; 3) degree of sexual and romantic passion; 4) level ofextroversion and openness to new experience; 5) how importantspirituality is; and 6) how optimistic and happy each one is. Accordingto eHarmony the more similarity that two people score in these factorsthe better their chances to be “soul mates.”

In one possible implementation a dating service such as eHarmony maysegment its clientele according to the above parameters and createarenas characterized by session areas model profiles that are visibleand/or accessible only to users whose profile is within certainparameters from a model profile that is representative of one segment ofthe dating clientele.

In one implementation that is based on eHarmony's understanding ofcouples compatibility, the system may aim at attracting to an activesession area users exhibiting a similarity of parameters. In otheralgorithms, the system may aim at attracting to an active session areausers exhibiting traits that are different but compatible. Manyvariations are possible in the dating scenario all having the samepurpose: the concentration of users with a high chance of being “soulmates” within the same active session area.

The person skilled in the art will recognize that the dating scenario isjust one example and that variations to the inventive concept arepossible for different fields. Visibility (of arenas and users) anddiscoverability (of arenas and users) can be used to fine tune orpromote the concentration of users who may have a vested interest ininteracting within the same active session areas.

In one possible implementation there could be a waiting list systemimplemented wherein only a certain predetermined number of active userscould be allowed to become active. The system may give priority to thoseusers whose user profile fits the session area model-profile mostclosely.

In another implementation, the system may operate according to a besteffort scenario and allow visibility or discoverability of an area or anevent to a predefined number of users wherein those users are the oneswho fit the session area model-profile most closely based on their realtime location or other reference location.

In another implementation, the system may correlate profiles of userswho are logged into a session area among each other using saidattributes and may generate a correlation score representative of thecorrelation of one profile against the other. In a visual or graphicalrepresentation of said users, similar users may appear proximate to eachother and navigation between profiles can be more efficient.

There are numerous patents and applications describing correlations andvisual representations of objects and attributes of those objects suchas U.S. Pat. No. 7,689,525, U.S. Pat. No. 8,296,667, U.S. Pat. No.5,986,673, U.S. Pat. No. 6,801,229, U.S. Pat. No. 6,486,898, U.S. Pat.No. 7,120,646, U.S. Pat. No. 7,343,365, US 20070214179-A1, US20070234234-A1, 20080163118-A1, U.S. Pat. No. 7,792,868 and US2010038279-A1. They are all incorporated by reference in their entirety.

FIG. 3 represents two examples of user interface screens pertaining toUser Equipment 170, 165 or 160. The person skilled in the art willrecognize that, as technology advances, similar information can beconveyed by different means, e.g. via an augmented reality equipment orit can be displayed on surfaces by a projector module or by using othertechnologies.

Screen 340 represents a map showing Location 180, the position of UserEquipment 170, Session Area 190 and Notification Area 185. In oneimplementation, Label 341 may indicate that an agent for brand A isavailable at Location 180. In another implementation, Label 343 mayindicate that user Name 5 is available for informal interactionspertinent to his professional practice, e.g., Family Law via hisinformal office that is set at Location 180. In certain implementations,said features, visibility and notifications may be premium features paidfor, e.g., agent for Brand A, or Brand A's owner, or user Name 5.

In one implementation, features and notifications may be dependant fromanalytics such as average usage of the mobile application by, e.g., userName 5 or Agent for Brand A. In another implementation, said featuresand notifications may be dependant from analytics of permanence of Agentfor Brand A or User Name 5 within Session Area 190. For example, if morethan one agent is present in Session Zone 190, the one that would getpriority visibility (or visibility at all) would be the one whosepermanence's analytic indicate a stronger connection with the SessionArea 190 or Location 180.

Screen 300 of User Equipment 165 may represent a list showing visibleusers within an active session area that is centered on top of Location180.

In one implementation the list of Users 301, 302, 303, 304, 305, 306 canbe arranged according to analytics related to the usage of the mobileapplication: the users who use the mobile application the most will beon top of the list. In another implementation, the list can be arrangedaccording to premium users. In another implementation, the list can bearranged according to permanence within the Session Area 190, eitherduring the active session or statistically over time. In anotherimplementation, the list can be arranged according to distance from userof User Equipment 165 using, for example, the method that will beillustrated in FIG. 8. In another implementation, the list can bearranged according to positive feedback from other users who haveinteracted with them. In another implementation, the list can bearranged according to a correlation score between a session areamodel-profile and the profiles of active users. Users with a highercorrelation score could be at the top of the list.

In another implementation, users would not be arranged according to atraditional list but rather graphically around a particular user onScreen 300 using, e.g., icons. In one implementation, the profile ofsaid central user could be the one with the highest correlation withsaid session area model-profile. In another implementation, activeusers' icons can be arranged around a particular user icon that user ofUser Equipment 165 has selected. Distances on Screen 300 between iconscan be representation of said correlation scores among profiles. Thecloser two icons are and the higher the correlation between the profilesof the users they represent.

In a possible implementation, User A will be able to store into a webaccount (e.g., on a cloud service that is connected to a mobileapplication running on his User Equipment 160 or 165) electronicbusiness cards related to other users who have been within Session Area190 during an active event or were within Session Area 190contemporaneously to User A. The electronic business cards can beautomatically generated electronically by using selected fields ofsocial media profiles such as LinkedIn, Facebook or other. In oneimplementation, the system may allow electronic business cards to bestored only temporarily for a certain period. User A might have tovalidate the preservation of those business cards manually by selectingand parsing them from his web account.

In a possible implementation data pertinent to Users 301, 302, 303, 304,305, 306 may display locations such as Location 180 that arestatistically and analytically relevant to those users. For example, ifUser 301 is a regular in a particular location or has an informal officethere, said location may appear as part of his profile. The personskilled in the art will understand that data, or profiles in general,may be retrieved via a mobile application as depicted in FIG. 3 or via aweb browser or other application execution environment such asHTML/JavaScript or Flash.

FIG. 4 provides a schematic example of a User Equipment 165 apparatus inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention. In a possibleimplementation, User Equipment 165 can be substantially similar to UserEquipment 160 and User equipment 170 and the generic description of UserEquipment 165 can be applicable. In addition, Administrator Equipment110 and Fractional Administrator Equipment 111 can also be mobileequipment and a similar description may apply.

As described above, the person skilled in the art will recognize that,by virtue of a possible log in mechanism, users may use variousequipment as long as said equipment is running a software applicationcontained, e.g., in Memories 431, 432 and 433 and enabling thefunctionalities described in this application. In practice, the using ofa login and a password to access and run a software application storedon equipment makes said equipment interchangeable. Also, as previouslydescribed, the system may not need any resident software on Memories431, 432 and 433 but rather user equipment may work via a web browser orother application execution environment such as HTML/JavaScript orFlash.

User Equipment 165 is a general example of a mobile device that userscan operate. It could be a traditional mobile phone, a personal digitalassistant, a laptop computer, an e-book reader, an entertainment consoleor controller, wearable hardware such as augmented reality headsets, atablet computer or any other equivalent portable device that may be usedto communicate with other mobile equipment or with Server 100.

User Equipment 165 includes at least one Processor/Controller 420 and atleast a Memory 433 comprising computer program instructions. The atleast one Processor/Controller 420 can be embodied by any computationalor data processing device, such as a central processing unit (CPU) orapplication specific integrated circuit (ASIC). The at least oneProcessor/Controller 420 can be implemented as one or a plurality ofcontrollers.

Memory 433 may contain application software running on User Equipment165. Memory 433 may also contain at least portions of datagrams that aremost relevant to the location, period, and profile associated with saidUser Equipment 165 at a certain moment in time. Complete datagramsrelated to profiles, preferences and settings could be stored on Memory102 of Server 100. In one implementation, user equipment can retrieveand store portions of said datagrams to expedite the system'sperformances according to various parameters such as location, timewindows, user settings and preferences. The at least one Memory 433 canbe any suitable storage device, such as a non-transitorycomputer-readable medium. For example, a hard disk drive (HDD) or randomaccess memory (RAM) can be used in the at least one Memory 433. The atleast one Memory 433 can be on the same chip as the at least oneProcessor/Controller 420, or may be separate from the at least oneProcessor 420.

The computer program instructions may be any suitable form of computerprogram code. For example, the computer program instructions may be acompiled or interpreted computer program. The at least one Memory 433and computer program instructions can be configured to, with the atleast one Processor/Controller 420, to cause a hardware apparatus suchas, User Equipment 165 to perform any process described herein.

User Equipment 165 may include a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)and/or a Near Field Communication (NFC) Module 440 with an antenna. TheRFID/NFC Module 440 may operate using traditional RFID frequencies orNFC frequencies. In one implementation these RF-ID/NFC Modules 440contained in User Equipment 165 may send a wireless digital identifier(ID) associated with a user to an RF-ID reader located on the premisesof Location 180, a happy hours place, a restaurant, a business buildingor a private home, for example.

An algorithm located on Server 100 may automatically check-in UserEquipment 165 that could be associated with said wireless digitalidentifier (ID). An algorithm residing on Server 100 can associate saidwireless digital identifier (ID) to data structures residing on Server100 containing profiles, attributes, settings and preferences associatedto said wireless digital identifier (ID).

A check-in made by means of an RF-ID reader can also be used incombination with Compass 476, Altimeter 478 and Accelerometer 477 toprovide an accurate tracking of the position of users via inertialmeasurements within enclosed premises where a GPS module or otherlocationing systems may not work or be sufficiently precise.

In one implementation, if the range of the RF-ID reader is short, e.g.,two feet, the system may use the position of the RF-ID reader as theposition at the time T of check-in. The system may also useAccelerometer 477 and Compass 476 to track and record any subsequentmovement of User Equipment 165 for at least the duration of the activesession.

A session area may have more than one RF-ID readers inside an event areaso that positions of users can be updated every time user equipmentpasses nearby one of these RF-ID readers. By comparing the estimatedposition with a map and by updating the position with numerous fixes viaintelligently distributed RF-ID readers the system may maintain aprecise position data of particular user equipment over time. In anotherimplementation based on Bluetooth, a system like iBeacon, which has beendescribed with reference with FIG. 1, can be used to provide a coarsepositioning in the same way as described with reference to RF-IDtechnology.

A precise indoor positioning system and Compass 476 can be used toimplement a function that can be desirable in crowded venues. Forexample, if a user requests a meeting with another user within SessionArea 190 and said meeting request is accepted, it is desirable that I/OUser Interface 450 produce an indication of where the other user islocated. If the location of the two users is known with a good level ofprecision by the system or by a software module running on Memory 431,I/O User interface 450 may produce indicia such as an arrow pointing atthe location of the user to be met and a distance value. Saidfunctionality can be implemented at least in part by hardware componentsand software routines located either on User Equipment 165 or on Server100.

Alternatively, the system might have predefined indoor or outdoormeeting locations memorized and stored either on Memory 102 or on Memory433. Users can be routed to those locations to meet for face-to-facegathering by said algorithm. User Equipment 165 may also include an I/OUser Interface 450. I/O User Interface 450 may allow inputting ofinformation and data via a touch screen or a QWERTY keyboard.

In one implementation, I/O User Interface 450 may also include avibrating notification module, a speaker, a monitor, or any combinationthereof. User Equipment 165 may include one or more Transceiver 460configured to operate in conjunction with one or more Antenna 470 tocommunicate wirelessly. In one embodiment, the Antenna Unit 470 maysupport beam forming and/or multiple input multiple output (MIMO)operations. As those skilled in the art know, MIMO operations mayprovide spatial diversity, which is to overcome difficult channelconditions and/or increase channel throughput. The Antenna 470 mayinclude antenna tuning and/or impedance matching components, RF poweramplifiers, and/or low noise amplifiers. User Equipment 165 can beoptimized to support multiple transceivers using multiple wirelessstandards.

In one example embodiment, User Equipment 165 may support simultaneoustransmission of cellular (for example, GSM, UMTS, LTE, WiMAX) andnon-cellular (for example, WLAN 495 or Bluetooth®/ZigBee 490) radiocarriers. A Transmission Module GSM/UMTS/LTE/WiMAX 475 may allow UserEquipment 165 to communicate with Server 100.

The locationing component of the invention can be advantageouslyimplemented in many different ways. In one possible implementation, aGPS Module 410 may provide the location of User Equipment 165 to Server100 via Link 141. When in closed environments, such as a shopping mall,the location data can be provided via different techniques. For example,choke points or grids, location indexing and presence reporting fortagged objects such as RF-ID tags in user equipment such as UserEquipment 165 or RF-ID bracelets, can be used to provide location datawhen indoor. Other examples of techniques used to provide location areangle of arrival, time of arrival and received signal strengthindication. One aspect of the locationing component of the invention canbe advantageously implemented by using a technique that will bedescribed in FIG. 8.

The person skilled in the art will understand that not all the modulesthat are described are necessary to implement every embodiment butrather different embodiments can be implemented by using small subsetsof the modules that have been described in FIG. 4. For example certainembodiments of the invention can be implemented by a using an RF-ID tagequipped bracelet.

FIG. 5 describes one embodiment user interface screen that may pertainto User Equipment 160, 165, 170, and enables the implementation of a newfunctionality. In certain implementations, it could be advantageous toprovide users with the possibility to quickly set up geofences whereverthey are currently located and engage or notify other nearby usersexpeditiously.

Said functionality can be customized with predetermined parameters suchas Active Session Area Radius 501, Notification Area Radius 502 and TimeWindow 503, i.e. the duration of the active session. In certainimplementations, some or all of the above-mentioned settings can bepredetermined to favor immediacy.

In one embodiment, geofences can be disconnected and independent from aphysical location such as a building or a house but rather a geofencecan be created in open spaces such as parks or parking lots for example.The field Event Description 504 can be used to input free text todescribe details of the event or the purpose for the geofence.

Settings 505 can be used to create filters for the event such as thekind of users that will be notified in the notification zone such as,e.g., users belonging to a particular group in LinkedIn. In anotherimplementation, Setting 505 can be used to regulate the visibility forthe event. Certain events could be made discoverable and thereforeaccessible only to certain classes of users, or to predetermined userssuch as users belonging to particular groups in LinkedIn, or to selectedusers via an invite.

The person skilled in the art will understand that the functionalitydescribed in FIG. 5 may allow many users to quickly create an activeSession Area 190 wherever they are located. This may create a tragedy ofthe commons problem whenever many users are concentrated in the samearea and want to create active session areas. In certainimplementations, users are classified according to different tiers.Higher tier users may prevent lower tiers users to create active sessionareas in or around the same location where they have created activesession areas.

In other implementations, top tier users can permanently reservelocation areas and prevent lower tier users to create active areaswithout permission within those location areas.

FIG. 6 describes one embodiment of a user interface screen that maypertain to User Equipment 160, 165, 170, and enables the implementationof new functionalities. Subscreen 601 may provide general detailspertaining to User A. In certain instances, and subject to certainprivacy settings, it could be beneficial for User A to allow User B toknow places where he spends some of his time in public settings so thatpeople who want to meet him or interact with him in the future may havean opportunity to do so. This information can be captured in AnalyticsFields 602. In one implementation, it is a product of analytics that aremade available by the system within the privacy settings imposed by UserA.

In a certain implementation, a profile can also show a preset place thatUser A might have elected as his informal office via an Informal OfficeField 603. The informal office can be an extension of formal businesspremises into public places, such as a happy hour place, that certainuser my employ to attract new prospective clients. User A may pledge tobe in his own informal office during the time window he indicates orwhenever User A feels like turning on the notification that he is now inhis ‘informal office” and he is available for informal interactionspertaining his profession. Server 100 may have stored in Memory 102 alist of informal offices that are associated with certain professionalcategories of users.

The person skilled in the art will understand that the same informationand functionalities described with reference to FIG. 6 can berepresented via a web browser or a flash application, in either a mobileor a fixed computer.

FIG. 7 describes embodiments for a user interface screen that maypertain, e.g., to User Equipment 160, 165, 170. Sometimes an indoorpositioning system might be unavailable or it might be convenient tojoin a subset of active users within a session area manually. The personskilled in the art will understand that the example of touch screen isjust explanatory. The same concepts can be reused across different userinterfaces that are currently available or that will be available in thefuture such as virtual reality displays.

In one implementation, Session Area 190 may cover a whole businessbuilding or a convention center without any reference to subareas withinsaid Session Area 190. Subareas might consist of predeterminedconference rooms, floors and locations that can be used to partitionSession Area 190 and to group together conveniently the users that areactive and located within said subareas.

In one implementation, based on location and described with reference toScreen 702, the system may allow users within Session Area 190, e.g. acorporate building or a convention center, to check into the broadSession Area 190 by using a General Check In 711.

Multipurpose Screen 703 may provide information related to the locationby pressing any of Buttons 704, 705, 706, 707. In the case representedin FIG. 7, Multipurpose Screen 703 is showing information related toButton 704.

In one implementation, subareas (or physical locations) within SessionArea 190 can be labeled with symbols or colors. In the example of FIG.7, Conference Room 1 is represented by a circle and any user physicallyapproaching said Conference Room 1 can be reminded to check in into saidsubarea by means of a circle sign that can be located, e.g., at theentrance of said conference room. In the case of FIG. 7 said check inmay occur by means of Button 710. The person skilled in the art willunderstand that similar scenarios are possible for conference room 2 andconference room 3 by using Button 709 and 708.

In another implementation, based on time, and described with referenceto Screen 701 the system may list Events Tiles 713 related to eventsthat are occurring within Session Area 190. Said Event Tiles 713 can beorganized according to Time Window Tile 714. Event Tiles 713 may alsodisplay Event Description 715 and Event Location 716. The checking incan be permitted via check in functionalities such as the one describedin Button 712 if the actual time is comprised within the time windowdescribed in Time Window Tile 714.

FIG. 8 describes a method to create and arrange a list of users as,e.g., the list described in FIG. 3 at Screen 300 according to proximity.This method may use, e.g., one of the locationing technologies that havebeen mentioned in the present application or the applications andpatents that have been incorporated by reference. In one embodiment,Session Area 190, having Radius 182 and centered on Location 180, issubdivided in subareas having the shape of a square. Said subareas havebeen numbered consecutively from 1 to 36 for convenience. By subdividinga large session area in smaller subareas, the system may allow User A,who is e.g. located in subarea 16, to see other active users who arealso located within subarea 16. The person skilled in the art willunderstand that the geometrical shape of the subareas may vary and thatthe example of squares is just one of many possible embodiments.Geometrical patterns may vary as many geometrical figures can be used.In one embodiment, patterns made of a combination of different figurescan be used such as, for example, hexagons and pentagons.

With reference now to FIG. 3, the list of Users 301, 302, 303, 304, 305,306 may represent users who are positioned within the same subarea.Subareas may, as indoor locationing and geofencing technology advance,represent rooms or indoor physical perimeters.

In another implementation, list of Users 301, 302, 303, 304, 305, 306may represent not only users who are positioned in subarea 16 but alsousers who are positioned in adjacent subareas, e.g., subareas 17, 11,10, 9, 15, 21, 22, and 23 as depicted on the left side of FIG. 8.

In one implementation, the list may maintain certain users and dropothers if a user moves, for example, from subarea 16 to subarea 21. Thisimplementation avoids the complete refreshing of the list every time auser changes his position from a subarea to another. As a matter ofexample, in this implementation, if user moves from subarea 16 to 21,the new refreshed list of proximate users may comprise users who arepositioned in subareas labeled 21, 22, 16, 15, 14, 20, 26, 27 and 28. Inpractice, every time a user is in one subarea the system may show notonly the users who are within the same subarea but also the users whoare in the adjacent subareas.

In another implementation, the list of nearby users can be organized sothat it will show first users who are located within the same subareaand then users who are located in surrounding subareas.

In another implementation, the list may comprise not only users who arein the same subarea and users who are located within a first level ofsurrounding subareas but also users who are located in a second level orthird level of surrounding subareas as concentric regions expand tocover the whole Session Area 190.

In another implementation, represented schematically on the right sideof FIG. 8, the refreshing of the list of users who are positioned withinthe same subarea may happen according to a certain algorithm that mayprevent the jittering of said list when a user is located in proximityof a line that is demarcating two subareas. The system may employ, e.g.,Hysteresis Bands 811 and 810 to dampen the jittering of the list ofnearby users.

If a user moves from Point 801 to Point 804, the refreshing of the listmay happen only when Point 803 is reached. If, on the contrary, usermoves from Point 804 to Point 801, the refreshing of the list may happenonly when user reaches Point 802 that is outside of the hysteresis guardbands. The person skilled in the art will understand that manymodifications are possible to the usage and application of the conceptof Hysteresis Bands 811 and 810.

In one implementation, subareas can be created by using iBeacontransmitters or RF-ID readers that are geometrically spaced so to createa pattern similar to the pattern described in FIG. 8. Readings of signalstrength, e.g., from surrounding iBeacon stations may create artificialsubareas that can be used to implement the concepts described above. Forexample, thirty-six iBeacon stations could be positioned in the centerof each subarea to create a pattern that can be used to implement theembodiments described above.

FIG. 9 illustrates the concept of geofencing applied to a threedimensional shape.

An altimeter is an instrument that relies on atmospheric readings todetermine altitude over mean sea level, known as MSL. This can be donegenerally in one of three ways: measuring local air pressure with abarometer, bouncing radio waves off a target and calculating how quicklythey are reflected or triangulating signals from three satellites usingGPS. However, GPS triangulation can be difficult indoor or when all thesatellites are close to the horizon.

At the time this application is written, altimeters such as, e.g., theXtrinsic MPL3115A2 pressure sensor by a company named Freescale canprovide a 30 cm resolution, which enables user equipment to identifyelevation at a granular level. User Equipment 165 equipped with anAltimeter 478 module could detect the exact floor a user is on within ahigh-rise building or a shopping mall, allowing location-based servicesto reflect immediate surroundings accurately.

Latitude and longitude values for Location 180 plus Radius 182 candefine a circular and exemplary two-dimensional geofence such as SessionArea 190. As the state of the art of digital altimeters progresses, thetwo dimensional Session Area 190 may become a three dimensional figuresuch as Geobox 901 that can be represented not only by a latitude and alongitude value plus a radius but also by an Elevation 902 value and aHeight 903 value. The person skilled in the art will understand that aplurality of Geoboxes 901 can be staked one on top of the other anddifferent Elevation Values 902 can be representative of different floorsin a building.

In one implementation, multiple session areas can be active on the sameor different floors of the same building. In another implementation,Geobox 901 can be three dimensional while being associated to atwo-dimensional notification area. In another implementation, both thesession area and the notification area can be three-dimensional. Forexample, a notification area may reach out to lower floors and attractusers to an active session within Geobox 901. The person skilled in theart will understand that Geoboxes could map and cover differ floors ofan high rise building and provide different active sessions and all thefunctionalities that have been described in this application. Geoboxescan also coexist in the same space and time window. In oneimplementation, a Video Camera 105 can be contained within Geo Box 901for an External User 112 to interact with active users who are withinthe active session area.

In one implementation based on iBeacons, WiFi or RF-ID readers thesystem may discern and ascertain the floor on which a user terminal islocated by listening to those transmitters. In one embodiment, strongerreceived signal from transmitters located on a certain floor will signalthe system that the user equipment is located on that floor.

FIG. 10 describes an embodiment that allows External User 112 tointeract with users who are within a remote session area. As discussedwith reference to FIG. 1, in one implementation, Visual Field 1001 ofVideo Camera 105 can be correlated and mapped against the position ofthe users who are within said Visual Field 1001. The system, e.g. byknowing the position of the active users, can generate ID Icon 1005 andID Icon 1004 that can be superimposed on Video Camera 105's video feedso that ID Icon 1005 and ID Icon 1004 can overlap with, e.g., the movingimages of the users of, e.g., User Equipment 160 and 165 within VisualField 1001.

In one implementation, said ID Icon 1005 and ID Icon 1004 can besuperimposed on top of the faces of active users by using face detectiontechnology. This technology may use special algorithms to parse VisualField 1001 looking for the shape of a human face. Face detectiontechnology is described in several patents and applications such as U.S.Pat. No. 7,203,346 B2, U.S. Pat. No. 8,457,367 B1, US20080247611,US20100135541 A1, WO2010043771 A1 and WO2011042601 A1. The combinationof face recognition with the location awareness of active users withinthe session area by the system makes it possible for the system togenerate virtual icons that can be used to interact with those usersvia, for example, a touch screen.

In the example of FIG. 10, User 1002 is associated with ID Icon 1004 andUser Equipment 165 while User 1003 is associated with ID Icon 1005 andUser Equipment 160. Data associated with User equipment 165 and 160 isstored on Server 100. By acting upon ID Icon 1004, External User 112 canextract or store information related to User 1002 by means of Info Menu1007.

In one implementation, since the system is storing user profiles,settings and information related to User Equipment 160 and 165 on Server100, external User 112 could interact with users within Session Area 190by acting upon said ID icons. For example, External User 112 couldexpress interest in meeting in the future with a particular userassociated with User equipment 160. Alternatively, External User 112 caninteract real-time with a particular user associated with User equipment160 by pushing a message or a notification by means of Interaction Menu1008.

One of the possible scenarios for this embodiment could be a datingscenario wherein External User 112 would be able to remotely accesspublic places and observe or interact with prospective dates in a barfrom his remote location. In another implementation, during aconference, External User 112 could be able to interact with selectedmembers of a panel. The person skilled in the art will understand thatthe scenarios are very diverse and that users may adjust their privacysettings so that this functionality can be enabled or disabled.

In one implementation, User Equipment 165 and 160 may include an RF-IDtag while Video camera 105 may include an RF-ID interrogator so that theresponse from the RF-ID tag can be used by the system to generate saidID Icon 1005 and 1004. In this implementation, the direction ofinterrogation of the RF-ID interrogator and the time of arrival of theresponse received can be used to produce the above-mentioned correlationwith Visual Field 1001. The dimensions of said ID Icon 1005 and ID Icon1004 can be scaled according to the calculated distance from said VideoCamera 105 to provide a three-dimensional perspective to External User112.

FIG. 11 represents a flow chart illustrating a possible embodiment of amethod for allowing selective discoverability and visibility of eventsand areas according to the degree of correlation between users' profilesand an area profile (i.e. “session area model-profile).” The personskilled in the art will understand that discoverability and visibilityof session areas or events should be interpreted broadly. In oneimplementation, events and session area can be discoverable or visibleby not only using a dedicated mobile application but also by using a webbrowser in a fixed or mobile computer equipment.

A representative method embodiment of the present inventioncomprises: 1) “creating a session area model-profile associated with anarea by selecting at least a subset of all the possible attributes thatmay pertain to a general user profile and assigning model values ormodel descriptive traits to said subset of attributes”, Step 1110; 2)“comparing said model values or model descriptive traits with the valuesor descriptive traits belonging to the profile of a user for the samesaid subset of attributes”, Step 1120; and 3) “generating a correlationscore wherein said correlation score affects the discoverability or thevisibility of said area in relation to said user”, Step 1130.

As discussed in previous sections, the term “session area model-profile”can often be used interchangeably with an “event model-profile”. An“event” can be an occurrence, usually limited in time, anchored, atleast provisionally, to a specific session area location. For the sakeof simplicity and consistency, the term “session area model-profile” hasoften been used to represent both, the spatial dimension and thetemporal dimension, since a session area model-profile can becharacterized by a predefined temporal window of activity associated toan event.

The person skilled in the art will understand that the term“correlation”, “correlation score” or “correlation output” should beinterpreted broadly since the attributes forming a profile (either auser profile or an area model-profile) can belong to very diverse andnon-homogenous classes. For example: 1) To define “correlation”numerical values representing a continuum of possible data can be used.Those data can be compared to a numeric benchmark, e.g., Age. 2) Adiscrete data flag (e.g., a “yes” or “no” to a determined condition) canbe used, e.g., Married. 3) A descriptive trait like Profession=“Doctor”can also be used. 4) A code that a user has inserted in a dedicatedfield can also be used. A correlation output can be, in some instances,a weighted combination of different data pertaining to very differentkind or classes of attributes.

In one implementation, if an area has been dedicated to a certainLinkedIn group or other social groups, it can be discoverable only bymembers of that group. For the purpose of this application, both thediscrete/descriptive data and the continuum data are examples of how toachieve or gauge “a correlation output.”

In another embodiment, correlation scores, correlation thresholds, andcorrelation benchmarks may adjust according to how many users have aprofile that reaches a minimum degree of correlation with said sessionarea model-profile to produce a best effort result.

In one implementation, an algorithm may produce a “best effort” group ofusers and generate a minimum or a predefined number of users whoseprofiles correlate the most with a desired user profile for an event oran area. Said desired profile can be represented by the session areamodel-profile. Said algorithm may 1) run a search among user profiles;2) benchmark those user profiles against the desired session areamodel-profile; and 3) establish certain variance boundaries attributesto include a minimum number of prospective active users for the sessionarea.

In one implementation, said algorithm might consider the location of thesession area and adjust 1) either the radius of discoverability or 2)the variance boundaries around the session area model-profile or 3) doboth.

A service operator can also implement said method manually. Saidoperator, by varying the variance boundaries, can generate a desirednumber of prospective active users for a session area associated with adesired “session area model profile.”

FIG. 12 represents a possible embodiment for the creation of businesscard folders and collections of electronic business cards that can becreated and made available, e.g., to User A via a website and a webaccount. In one exemplary embodiment, User A would log into said webaccount and into a mobile application account using the samecredentials, e.g. his LinkedIn account credentials.

In this implementation, the mobile equipment will permit certainfunctionalities that are tailored to the mobility aspect of theinvention such as the capability of interacting with other users duringa finite event or within a permanent arena. On the other hand, theaccount hosted on a website and linked to the same account of the mobileapplication may generally allow functionalities that are more tailoredto the discovery of events, discovery of different taxonomies of usersin time and space or follow up of events that User A has participated orarenas that User A has visited. In some implementations said websiteaccount may permit the interaction (e.g., messaging) with users who didactivate the enhanced visibility functionality that will be described inmore detail with reference to FIG. 13.

One example of follow up functionality is depicted in FIG. 12. In oneimplementation represented by Card Folders 1211 and 1212, a folder isgenerated when User A joins an event that is defined by a time windowand a location (finite event). For example, if a networking finite eventis created, such as the one represented by Folder 1211, that isassociated to 1) a location and 2) an event time window, a folder can becreated on User A's web account containing all the electronic businesscards of other users who also joined that event. In one implementation,the folder that is created and associated to an event may comprise allthe business cards of all other users who also joined the event via themobile application at any time during the time window independently fromany overlapping time and active coexistence of users within the sameevent time window.

In another implementation, Card Folder 1211 in User A's account maycontain only those electronic business cards of those users who joinedthe event during a time window that was overlapping with a time windowwhen also User A joined the event. In this implementation the electronicbusiness cards of users joining the event during time windows that werenon-overlapping with the time window of presence of User A would not becollected and stored in User A's account. This second implementation ismore stringent as, e.g., the electronic business card of User B would becollected into a folder on User A's account only if User A and User Bjoined said finite event during an overlapping period of time.

Differently from finite events, certain locations may constitutepermanent arenas for networking, dating, conducting business or otheractivities. Permanent arenas (from now on “arenas”), in someimplementations are areas where, among other functionalities, users mayinteract if co-located within the same always-active area. Arenas can beplaced in strategic locations such as airport lounges and can be used toproduce statistics, taxonomies or analytics that can be used to provideadditional services to users or businesses.

In one implementation, the electronic business cards of users are notautomatically stored by the system in User A's account but may need tobe manually saved by User A in either 1) a generic Saved Business CardsFolder 1210 or 2) in a folder dedicated to a finite event that both UserA and User B have joined such as Cards Folder 1211 or 3) in a folderdedicated to a particular permanent arena location such as Cards Folder1213. In some implementations, User A may elect to store by defaultmanually-saved business cards in said generic Saved Business CardsFolder 1210. In some implementations, privacy settings may allow User Ato regulate the capability of other users to collect his electronicbusiness cards when User A decides to join a finite event or a permanentarena. In certain implementations, User A may allow his business card tobe selectively stored on accounts of other users only if User A hasinteracted with those users via, e.g., a messaging or handshakefunctionality. In other implementations, User A may decide not to allowhis electronic business card to be stored on other users' accounts butjust allow the possibility of interacting during the event or within anarena without leaving an electronic business card.

In some implementations, electronic business cards can be moved, savedor duplicated in another folder. For example, Saved Business CardsFolder 1210 may contain those electronic business cards that User Awants to retain or act upon in the future. Folders could be createdwithin other folders to organize said electronic business cardsaccording to User A's needs or desires.

In some implementations, electronic business cards may automaticallydisappear from users' web accounts unless those users act upon thebusiness cards by saving them within a predetermined period.

The person skilled in the art will understand that for the purpose ofthis application, electronic business card is a broad term that may ormay not coincide with the industry standard terminology. For example,Card 1218, could be assembled by extracting at least certain fieldattributes from an electronic profile of a social network, professionalnetwork or dating network such as, e.g., LinkedIn, Google plus,Facebook, eHarmony or Match.com.

An electronic business card can be assembled by extracting fieldattributes from user profiles that may not have been intended to providean electronic business card functionality. For example, Spotify,Pandora, Apple or Instagram user profile may serve the purpose ofextracting data useful to assemble an electronic business card.

The person skilled in the art will also understand that, in someimplementations, an electronic business card may resemble a traditionalbusiness card mimicking the layout and the information traditionallycontained therein. In other implementations, electronic business cardscould be a collection of data and information in a portion of a databaseassociated with an event or a location.

In some implementations, the electronic objects representing electronicbusiness cards in a webpage of said website may not resemble traditionalpaper business cards but may appear just as a structured collection ofusers' data. In certain implementations, data related to users could berepresented just as databases where data could be organized and searchedaccording to various parameters such as name, industry, profession,title, education, location of interaction, event of interaction, etcetera.

In FIG. 12, Cards 1214, 1215, 1216, 1218 and 1219 are contained, e.g.,in Folder 1211. In some implementations, cards may differ from oneanother even if they are generated using data extracted from the samesource such as a social profile collection of attributes for a genericuser. For example, User A may be able to customize the appearance of theelectronic business card associated with his own profile. A logo couldbe added to the card such as Logo 1217. Said logo could berepresentative, e.g., of the company for which User A is working.

Card 1218 shows a possible customization such as Border 1220. Othercustomizations may include different colors or shapes so that theelectronic business cards do not appear to be the same for all users butcollections of cards may mimic the same diversity that occurs withtangible paper business cards. Customizations of electronic businesscards could be part of premium features for which users may be willingto pay a fee in order to differentiate themselves from the competition.

In some implementations, electronic business cards are not simply agraphical display of the information that is visible but may alsocontain metadata. Metadata may facilitate the discovery or organizationof relevant information associated with a user. Metadata may also helpto organize electronic resources, provide digital identification, andsupport archiving and preservation of electronic business card. Metadatamay also assist in the discovery and organization of electronic businesscards by allowing them to be searched or organized according relevantcriteria. For example, if one metadata associated with the electronicbusiness cards is the location where that business card has beencollected, User A could be able to organize or search the electronicbusiness cards that he has collected according to a location data.

Example of metadata that could be associated to electronic businesscards are: event name, location, date, time, analytics of proximitybetween User A and the user associated with the business card. Saidproximity parameter can be quantified, for example, via embodiments thathave been disclosed in patent applications by the same inventor of thepresent patent application. Other metadata can be data derived from thesocial profile used to assemble the electronic business card, forexample the number of first degree connections of a user. In oneembodiment, electronic business cards associated to premium users mayenjoy a premium status that may affect, e.g., discoverability,visibility, permanence in other users' accounts, richness of contentassociated with said business card (metadata), distinctiveness,personalization or privacy options.

In one possible implementation, electronic business cards are not only agraphical representation on a web page but software objects that can bedragged, tossed, rearranged and archived in ways that are similar totraditional paper business cards by using a graphical interface such asa computer mouse or a touch screen.

A vCard is a file format standard for electronic business cards codifiedby IETF in its RFC 6350, 2011. vCards are often attached to e-mailmessages, but can also be exchanged in other ways, such as on the WorldWide Web or instant messaging. They can contain name and addressinformation, phone numbers, e-mail addresses, URLs, logos, photographs,and audio clips.

With reference to Card 1219 in FIG. 12, an electronic business cardgenerated according to one embodiment of the present application mayallow functionalities that may be accessed, e.g., via a Drop Down Menu1221. Said menu may consent different operations related to Card 1219.For example, a vCard can be created using data or metadata associatedwith the electronic business card that was generated by the system.

In one implementation, Drop Down Menu 1221 may consent exporting data toa CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system. A CRM is a model formanaging a company's interactions with current and future customers. Oneexample of a CRM system is Salesforce. Salesforce may enable customersto create and track cases coming in and automatically route and escalatewhat is important. Salesforce customer portal may provide customers withthe ability to track cases and provides analytical tools and otherservices. Salesforce platform as a service (PaaS) may allow externaldevelopers to create add-on applications that integrate into the mainSalesforce.com application and are hosted on Salesforce infrastructure.In one implementation, User A may fill in his credentials for his CRMaccount into Credentials 1222 of his web account and in so doing he mayconnect said CRM account with the accounts of said mobile applicationand said web account. Once the accounts are connected, the dataassociated with the electronic business cards that are generated andcollected may automatically be transferred into said CRM system withoutthe need for User A to use Drop Down Menu 1221 or perform any manualoperation.

In another implementation, electronic business cards data and metadatacan be exported to traditional contacts lists such as Outlook or Gmaileither automatically (via account linking functionalities similar toCredentials 1222) or manually via Drop Down Menu 1221.

FIG. 13 provides a representation of possible features and embodimentsrelated to visibility indicators or enhanced visibility actuators.

Visibility Indicator 1302 may signal to a user his visibility status inrelation to other users. If User A has not joined a permanent arena or afinite event, in some implementations, he or she may not be visible toother users. This indicator is especially useful when an auto joinfunction has been enabled and User A wants to become visibleautomatically to other users if he enters into an active area (whether apermanent arena or an active finite event). In some implementations, agreen color may signal a visible status if User A has joined a finiteevent. In another implementation, a blue color may signal the visibilityfor User A if he has joined a permanent arena. In some implementations,a grey color may signal to User A that he is not visible to other userswho may have joined the same arena.

The visibility of a user may be enhanced in different ways, e.g., withina list of users certain users who have activated a visibility enhancerfunction may come on top such as for example User A in Screen 1300.

In certain implementations, a browser Screen 1301 may show a map ofcertain locations such as, e.g., Location 180 and may also displayinformation about those users who have activated a visibility enhancingfunction at said location. Browser Screen 1301 can be accessed, e.g.,via a web browser by a user who is not necessarily positioned withinSession Area 190 or has joined Session Area 190.

Enhanced Visibility Button 1303 may enable a functionality wherein UserA may become more visible not only to those users who have joined thesame active area but also to those users who, via a web browser andScreen 1301, can acquire information on arenas or events without beinglocated within or join Session Area 190 (associated with Location 180).In some implementations, the possibility of acquiring real time orstatistical information pertaining to active session areas is limited topermanent session areas (i.e. arenas). In other implementations, finiteevents may produce real time statistics or post event statistics relatedto those users who have joined said event.

In the implementation described in Screen 1301, it is possible to accessa personal profile of User A and Name 2 and said profile may contain a“tagline” pertaining to the informal office functionality such as forexample: “I am an IP lawyer available to informally discuss howIntellectual Property can protect your commercial enterprise. Feel freeto shake hands. P.S.—This is not legal advice: >).”

Screen 1306 represents a possible representation of nearby arenas in amobile terminal. Tiles representing arenas may show Enhanced VisibilityMarker 1307 associated with locations where users who joined thosepermanent active session areas have activated informal offices. ArenaStarbucks at Address XXX and Arena 2 in Screen 1306 are one example. Inone implementation, the pressing of the Enhanced Visibility Marker 1307on a touch screen may result in the showing of the taglines of all thoseusers who have activated the enhanced visibility function via theEnhanced Visibility Button 1303 and have joined the Arena Starbucks atAddress XXX.

In one implementation, said enhanced visibility function associated withEnhanced Visibility Button 1303 may lower the privacy of a user, e.g.User B, in return for the possibility of other users to reach out tosaid User B when he is at Location 180 and he has activated saidfunction. In one implementation, users who activate the EnhancedVisibility Button 1303 are visible and reachable by users who are not atLocation 180. In one implementation, Statistics 1311 associated withLocation 180 may list the most active users such as those users with themost interactions with other users. In another implementation, saidStatistics 1311 may describe those users who most often are in anenhanced visibility mode.

In some implementations, the enhanced visibility of certain users maybecome part of statistical data so that, for example, if a user joinsLocation 180 and recurrently turns on the enhanced visibility functionon certain days of the week (or certain time windows of the day) thoserecurring patterns may become part of the analytics associated withLocation 180.

With reference to FIG. 13 and the professional networking scenario,Enhanced Visibility Button 1303 in Screen 1300 may serve the function ofestablishing an informal office centered on Location 180. In onepossible exemplary embodiment, Location 180 is a Starbucks coffee shopat Address XXX. As discussed with reference to previous figures whiledescribing the informal office functionalities, User A may enter anarena centered on Location 180 and turn on said enhanced visibilityfunction, in this case an informal office functionality associated withEnhanced Visibility Button 1303.

In one embodiment, with reference to Screen 1300 of a touch phone,Enhanced Visibility Marker 1304 and Enhanced Visibility Marker 1305, maysignal, e.g., that users User A and Name 2 have activated thisfunctionality. In one possible implementation, the tiles associated withUser A and Name 2 can be placed on top of a list of users who also havejoined the arena centered on Location 180 (but have not activated theenhanced visibility functionality such as, e.g., Name 3 and Name 4).

Enhanced Visibility Marker 1304, 1305 may also function as taglineactuators. For example if Visibility Marker 1304 is pressed, a taglineassociated with User A can be shown on Screen 1300.

In some other implementations described in Screen 1301, Taglines 1312 ofthose users who have turned on Enhanced Visibility Button 1303, maybecome part of the attributes pertinent to the arena centered onLocation 180 and can be retrieved either from a web browser or a mobileapplication during the time in which those users keep their enhancedvisibility function active.

With reference to Screen 1301, in one implementation, a user who has notjoined the arena centered on Location 180 may acquire informationpertaining to said arena by browsing the web from the comfort of his ownhome or office. He may, for example, browse the arena Starbucks atAddress XXX and discover the following exemplary attributes for saidarena: Active Users Attribute 1308, Informal Offices Attribute 1309, andStatistics Attribute 1311. Active Users Attribute 1308 may represent areal time indication of how many users have joined the arena centered onLocation 180. Informal Offices Attribute 1309 may represent how manyinformal offices are currently open. It may also provide for theenhanced visibility or discoverability of those users and theirassociated Taglines 1312.

In one implementation, one attribute of an arena such as the onecentered on Location 180 is Statistics 1311. Users may be able toretrieve certain statistical and real time data such as active users'peak times, peak day for activities, average taxonomy of users overdifferent periods (week, month, year) or real time taxonomy (such asmost represented professional categories at a certain moments in time).

In another embodiment, that is different from a professional networkingscenario, the system can be used for conducting location-based commerce.With reference to Screen 1301 and attribute Active Agents 1310, theEnhanced Visibility Button 1303 can be used by agents working forprincipals as described in patent application US 20140011515 A1published on Jan. 9, 2014 and titled “Method and apparatus for aPrincipal/Agent based mobile commerce” that is hereby incorporated byreference. In one embodiment, the Enhanced Visibility Button 1303 can beused for enhancing the visibility of agents who are associated withprincipals and are empowered by said principals to advertise offeringsand transact certain deals on their behalf.

A possible exemplary and explanatory scenario is an agent who isrepresenting a Mercedes cars dealership (principal). Said agent may parka new model car in proximity of a Starbucks coffee shop (Location 180)and turn on Enhanced Visibility Button 1303. In this embodiment, AgentTagline 1313 rather than displaying a professional or networkinginterest may advertise a deal on said new model car that is offered viathe agent by the principal to users who choose to interact with theagent at Location 180. In some implementations, the tagline could be asummary of the offer. In another implementation, the tagline could be ahyperlink that may open the details of an offer and enable, e.g., User Band said agent to close a commercial transaction or at least to advanceit. In some implementations, User B may lock the terms of the offer viaagent but to close the transaction he may have to interact with saidprincipal.

Embodiments of the present invention can be implemented in software,hardware, application logic or a combination of software, hardware andapplication logic. The software, application logic and/or hardware mayreside on mobile computer equipment, fixed equipment or servers that maynot always be owned or operated by a single entity as described by theexample of Administrator Equipment 110 and Fractional AdministratorEquipment 111. If desired, part of the software, application logicand/or hardware may reside on multiple servers and equipment in chargeof different processes.

In an example embodiment, the application logic, software or aninstruction set is maintained on any one of various conventionalcomputer-readable media. In the context of this application, a“computer-readable medium” may be any media or means that can contain,store, communicate, propagate or transport the instructions for use byor in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, ordevice, such as a computer, with examples of computers described anddepicted in FIG. 1 as 100, 110, 111, 112, 160, 165 and 170.

A computer-readable medium may comprise a computer-readable storagemedium that may be any media or means that can contain or store theinstructions for use by or in connection with an instruction executionsystem, apparatus, or device, such as a fixed or mobile computer.

If desired, the different functions discussed herein may be performed ina different order and/or concurrently with each other. Furthermore, ifdesired, one or more of the above-described functions may be optional orcan be combined. As technology advances, new equipment and techniquescan be viable substitutes of the equipment and techniques that have beendescribed in this application.

For the purpose of the present application, a “plurality” means one ormore.

Although various aspects of the invention are set out in the independentclaims, other aspects of the invention comprise other combinations offeatures from the described embodiments and/or the dependent claims withthe features of the independent claims, and not solely the combinationsexplicitly set out in the claims. The above described exampleembodiments of the invention should not be viewed as limiting but merelyas exemplary and explanatory.

The person skilled in the art will understand that are severalvariations and modifications, which can be made without departing fromthe scope of the present invention, as defined in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: facilitating discovery ofindicia of a session area via a location aware mobile application;wherein: a) said session area is anchored to at least one referencepoint; b) said session area exhibits at least one first set of spatialboundaries associated with said at least one reference point; c) saidsession area is associated with at least one time-related parameterdefining at least one functionality connected with said session area; d)said discovery of indicia of said session area is facilitated, at leastin part, based on assessment of a distance data from said at least onereference point; facilitating association with said session area of atleast one user among a first plurality of users based, at least in part,on a distance parameter from said at least one reference point;facilitating selectively enabling the activation of a second pluralityof users by an authority, wherein said activation facilitates theassociation of said second plurality of users with said first pluralityof users; facilitating enabling at least one interactive networkingfunctionality for said at least one user among said first plurality ofusers, wherein said at least one user among said first plurality ofusers selectively receives indicia of at least one user among saidsecond plurality of users; facilitating determining which user amongsaid second plurality of users has the strongest connection with saidreference point based, at least in part, on that user's location;facilitating activating a timer associated with said one user among saidsecond plurality of users such that if a task is not accomplished bysaid one user among said second plurality of users within the expirationof said timer, an association with said at least one user among saidfirst plurality of users is inhibited, at least temporarily, and thusthe quality of interactions between said first plurality of users andsaid second plurality of users is regulated; facilitating providingguidance indicia to said one user among said second plurality of usersto facilitate a meeting with said at least one user among said firstplurality of users.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein said first set ofspatial boundaries defines a threshold condition for members of saidfirst plurality of users such that association with said session area isinhibited outside such boundaries.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein aparameter representing a radius of discoverability of a session areaadjusts to balance requests for interactions among users of said secondplurality of users according to a predetermined optimization criterion.4. The method of claim 1, wherein said at least one interactivenetworking functionality is governed by parameters selected from thegroup consisting of: a time parameter regulating incoming requests forinteraction according to a predetermined time threshold, a predeterminedthreshold data parameter of previously received requests for interactionregulating incoming requests for interaction, prioritization of requestsof interactions according to a premium subscriptions data parameter, atime data parameter associated with permanence within said at least onefirst set of spatial boundaries, a time data parameter associated withusage of a mobile application, a recurrence data parameter ofassociations with said session area, a user data score parameter basedon feedback from users, an activity threshold parameter, andcombinations thereof.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein said sessionarea is characterized by a session area model profile detailing, atleast in part, a subset of attributes that pertain to said one useramong said first plurality of users, wherein a correlation enginedetermines a correlation score between said one user among said firstplurality of users and said session area model profile such that saidcorrelation score is used to regulate parameters selected from the groupconsisting of: visibility of said session area as compared to othersession areas, discoverability of said session area, discoverability ofsaid one user among said first plurality of users, visibility of saidone user among said first plurality of users, and combinations thereof.6. The method of claim 1, further comprising facilitating providingindicia pertaining to members of said first plurality of users or saidsecond plurality of users wherein said indicia are based on dataselected from the group consisting of: analytics of spatial patterns ofmembers of said first plurality of users, analytics of temporal patternsof members of said first plurality of users, a real time indication ofthe position of said one user among said first plurality of users, areal time indication of the position of said one user among said secondplurality of users, data with reference to a position pledge informationpertaining to said one user among said second plurality of users, datawith reference to a position pledge information pertaining to said oneuser among said first plurality of users, and combinations thereof;wherein said indicia facilitate the occurrence of said meeting.
 7. Themethod of claim 1, wherein said meeting with said at least one useramong said first plurality of users is associated with a predeterminedlocation.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein at least a subset of saidsecond plurality of users is associated with a second set of boundariesdefining an area where said at least a subset of said second pluralityof users enjoys privileges deriving from settings of said authority suchthat interferences among said second plurality of users are minimized.9. A computer software system having a set of instructions stored in atleast one non-transitory computer-readable medium for controlling atleast one digital computer in performing desired functions comprising: aset of instructions formed into each of a plurality of modules, eachmodules comprising: a process for facilitating fruition offunctionalities associated with a session area via a location awaremobile application; wherein: a) said session area exhibits at least onefirst set of spatial boundaries; b) said session area is associated withat least one time related parameter defining at least one functionalityconnected with said session area; a process for facilitating associationwith said session area of at least one user among a first plurality ofusers based, at least in part, on determining said at least one user'slocation; a process for facilitating selectively enabling the activationof a second plurality of users by an authority, wherein said activationallows the selective association of said second plurality of users withsaid first plurality of users; a process for facilitating enabling atleast one interactive networking functionality for said at least oneuser among said first plurality of users, wherein said at least one useramong said first plurality of users selectively receives indicia of atleast one user among said second plurality of users; a process forfacilitating determining which user among said second plurality of usershas the strongest connection with said session area based, at least inpart, on time spent within said at least one first set of spatialboundaries, such that said second plurality of users are ranked oneabove the other according to status; a process for facilitatingactivating a timer associated to said one user among said secondplurality of users such that if a task is not accomplished by said oneuser among said second plurality of users within the expiration of saidtimer, an association with said at least one user among said firstplurality of users is inhibited, at least temporarily, and thus thequality of interactions between said first plurality of users and saidsecond plurality of users is regulated; a process for providing indiciato facilitate an encounter between said at least one user among saidfirst plurality of users and said at least one user among said secondplurality of users.
 10. The computer software system of claim 9, whereinsaid session area is anchored to at least one reference point and saidreference point is selected from the group consisting of: instantaneouslocation of said least one user among said first plurality of users,instantaneous location of said least one user among said secondplurality of users, a commercial establishment, a private establishment,and combinations thereof.
 11. The computer software system of claim 9,wherein said authority selectively controls the enabling of said secondplurality of users according to parameters selected from the groupconsisting of: presence within a predetermined area parameter, presenceoutside a predetermined area parameter, a time window parameter, andcombinations thereof.
 12. The computer software system of claim 9,wherein a rate of interaction of said at least one user among saidsecond plurality of users with users among said first plurality of usersaffects at least a parameter related to said at least one user amongsaid second plurality of users selected from the group consisting of: areward level, a status level, discoverability, visibility, andcombinations thereof.
 13. The computer software system of claim 9,wherein said at least one user among said second plurality of userscommunicates indicia pertaining to his own anticipated future locationto facilitate enabling at least one interactive networking functionalityfor said at least one user among said first plurality of users.
 14. Thecomputer software system of claim 9, further comprising a process forfacilitating producing maps indicating clouds of spatial and/or timeprobability of users selected from the group consisting of: said firstplurality of users, said second plurality of users, and combinationsthereof.
 15. An apparatus, comprising: at least one processor; and atleast one non-transitory computer-readable medium including a computerprogram code; the at least one non-transitory computer-readable mediumand the computer program code configured to, with the at least oneprocessor, cause the apparatus to perform at least the following:facilitating discovery of indicia of a session area via a location awaremobile application; wherein: a) said session area is anchored to atleast one reference point; b) said session area exhibits at least onefirst set of spatial boundaries associated with said at least onereference point; c) said session area is associated with at least onetime related parameter defining at least one functionality connectedwith said session area; d) said discovery of indicia of said sessionarea is facilitated, at least in part, based on a distance data fromsaid at least one reference point; facilitating association with saidsession area of at least one user among a first plurality of usersbased, at least in part, on a distance parameter from said at least onereference point; facilitating selectively enabling discoverability of asecond plurality of users by an authority, wherein said authorityfacilitates association of said second plurality of users with saidfirst plurality of users; facilitating enabling at least one interactivenetworking functionality for said at least one user among said firstplurality of users, wherein said at least one user among said firstplurality of users selectively receives indicia of at least one useramong said second plurality of users; facilitating determining whichuser among said second plurality of users has the strongest connectionwith said one user among said first plurality of users based, at leastin part, on a distance data between said one user among said firstplurality of users and said one user among said second plurality ofusers; facilitating activating a timer associated to said one user amongsaid second plurality of users such that if a task is not accomplishedby said one user among said second plurality of users within theexpiration of said timer, an association with said at least one useramong said first plurality of users is inhibited, at least temporarily,and thus the quality of interactions between said first plurality ofusers and said second plurality of users is regulated; facilitatingproviding indicia to assist an encounter between said one user amongsaid second plurality of users and said one user among said firstplurality of users such that a service is provided.
 16. The apparatus ofclaim 15, wherein said distance parameter from said at least onereference point varies to optimize the load among said second pluralityof users according to at least one predetermined criterion of saidauthority.
 17. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein said encounter occursin a predetermined location selected from the group consisting of: alocation selected by said least one user among said first plurality ofusers, a location selected by said least one user among said secondplurality of users, a location corresponding to said reference point, alocation selected by said authority.
 18. The apparatus of claim 15,wherein said apparatus regulates discoverability of said session areaaccording to a correlation score between a session area model-profileand the profile of users selected from the group consisting of: saidfirst plurality of users, said second plurality of users, andcombinations thereof.
 19. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein a feedbackparameter influences association between said one user among said firstplurality of users and said one user among said second plurality ofusers.
 20. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein said computer program codefurther causes the apparatus to provide space and time indicia relatedto an area of high concentration of users of said first plurality ofusers.